Latest posts from National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI)

Two films in this week’s NSI Online Short Film Festival from directors Mayumi Yoshida and Dominic Poliquin.

Akashi あかし

Akashi あかし | Drama, 10:00, English, BC, 2017 | Director: Mayumi Yoshida

Kana, a young woman from Japan, is pursuing her career in North America and has adapted to her new environment. However, her new lifestyle has made her emotionally distant and she can’t seem to sustain a long-term relationship.

Her mother calls, informing Kana that her grandmother has passed away. As Kana returns home to pay her respects, she begins to recall her most intimate conversation with her grandma. She tells Kana that her marriage was far from ideal and, to Kana’s surprise, grandma reveals a secret which changes Kana’s attitudes on relationships.

Memories and the funeral force Kana to look inside herself and examine her own life.

Forces

Forces | Drama, 8:26, English, QC, 2016 | Director: Dominic Poliquin

An intense bromance between a gay football player and a straight soldier; a reflection on friendship and masculinity.

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Call for films / submit by September 8

Films are now being accepted through FilmFreeway until Friday, September 8, 2017.

If your film is programmed, you have a chance of winning over $3K in cash awards. We accept films released after January 1, 2012.

All NSI Online Short Film Festival winners receive a complimentary Friend membership for the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television and non-acting award winners are qualified to be nominated for a Canadian Screen Award (if award criteria are met).

See the most recent winners.

Your film must be less than 30 mins long. Drama, comedy, animation, documentary, sci-fi, horror, music video and experimental are all eligible and must be made by a Canadian writer, director or producer.

Submit your film

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The NSI Online Short Film Festival is made possible through the support of Festival Partner Telefilm Canada; Supporting Sponsors Entertainment One, Super Channel, Corus Entertainment, Blue Ant Media, The Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation and Breakthrough Entertainment; Award Sponsors A&E Television Networks, The Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation; Corus Entertainment and Blue Ant Media; and Industry Partner the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

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Hit On Me, a web series from writer Marvin Kaye, director Jeremy Lalonde and exec producer Lauren Corber (all NSI Totally Television), has won the 2017 edition of Beyond the Box: Playing It Short from Just For Laughs.

Winners of Beyond The Box: Playing It Short receive a complimentary one-year membership to the International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV) as well as tickets to attend the next IAWTV Awards. The winners also receive a free trip to the 2018 edition of the Just For Laughs Festival.

Hit on Me is a romantic comedy about love, longing and killing people. Love or murder? Pick one. ‘Cause you’re too old for both.

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An intense bromance between a gay football player and a straight soldier; a reflection on friendship and masculinity.

Creative team

Writer/director/producer: Dominic Poliquin

Filmmaker’s statement

In Forces we follow the lives of two young men: a straight soldier being deployed to Afghanistan who is overly sensitive, and his openly gay childhood friend who recently got kicked off his football team, not for his sexual orientation but rather for excessive violent behavior.

My goal for my short was to avoid clichés and stereotypes. The straight character in my film is a bit like the damsel in distress and the gay character gets to play the part of the saviour.

My approach to filmmaking is to not make a big deal about the sexuality of my gay characters. Masculinity and friendship are the main themes at play. The spheres of sports and the military are two iconic institutions I wanted to explore because they heavily influence male culture, education and upbringing.

Even if some ‘out’ athletes like Brian Sims and Gareth Thomas were important inspirational figures for me, I also used my 10+ years of experience working at the military base of Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu where I’ve befriended several straight soldiers as research, much like an artist doing field work studies for his master’s degree in film production.

The message I want viewers and future filmmakers to take away from Forces is that sensitivity in men is strength – a force to be reckoned with, and it is certainly not a weakness.

About Dominic Poliquin

With a master’s degree in film production from Concordia University, Dominic Poliquin has proven that he can create beautiful imagery and strong narratives that see ‘beyond.’

The Montrealer is driven by the limits of attachment and memory with a special touch for symbolism in his mise-en-scène.

The post Forces appeared first on National Screen Institute - Canada (NSI).

Kana, a young woman from Japan, is pursuing her career in North America and has adapted to her new environment. However, her new lifestyle has made her emotionally distant and she can’t seem to sustain a long-term relationship.

Her mother calls, informing Kana that her grandmother has passed away. As Kana returns home to pay her respects, she begins to recall her most intimate conversation with her grandma. She tells Kana that her marriage was far from ideal and, to Kana’s surprise, grandma reveals a secret which changes Kana’s attitudes on relationships.

Memories and the funeral force Kana to look inside herself and examine her own life.

Creative team

Writer/director/producer: Mayumi Yoshida
Producers: Phil Planta, Adam Van Steinburg

About Mayumi Yoshida

Mayumi Yoshida is from Tokyo, Japan. Her father being a journalist, she had an international childhood living in Washington D.C., Brussels and Tokyo.

In Tokyo she starred in 25 theatre productions between 2005 and 2009. She moved to Vancouver in 2010 to pursue her dream to be an actor in North America.

​In 2015 she made her theatre directing debut in This is A Play by Daniel MacIvor in which she also starred. She was selected as one of the directors for 2017 Pull Festival and will work on two out of six plays.

​Her TV and film credits are Evangeline (Opiate Pictures), Cult (CW), Gourmet Detective: A Healthy Place to Die (Hallmark), Stop the Wedding (Hallmark), Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce (Bravo) and The Man in The High Castle (Amazon Studios), which earned her the nomination for best emerging actor at the UBCP Awards (2016).

At the 2016 Vancouver Fringe Festival she directed, acted and also made her playwriting debut with NeOn ね音.

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A shorts program curated by Winnipeg’s Indigenous Filmmakers Association features this weekend at Gimli Film Festival, Saturday, July 29 at 12:30 p.m. at Gimli Lutheran Church.

Headdress

JJ Neepin (NSI IndigiDocs), Justina Neepin (CBC New Indigenous Voices, NSI IndigiDocs), Craig Guiboche (CBC New Indigenous Voices)

With the help of photographer Nadya Kwandibens, JJ plans to recreate her great-grandfather’s portrait.

How the Savage Came To Be

Dinae Robinson (CBC New Indigenous Voices)

A short history of Canada’s Indian Residential School system and its legacy. Testimonies from former students whose experiences are so dark and bleak, it’s hard to believe such an inhumane, government-funded, church-run school could ever exist.

Sacred Womyn

Erica Daniels (CBC New Indigenous Voices), students of the Sacred Hoop Broadcast Program

A group of young women wanted to learn more about their culture and the sacredness of being a women so they sat down with respected grandmother Sherry Copenace from Ojibways of Onigaming First Nation to learn more about their identity.

Restoring the Sacred

Andrew George (CBC New Indigenous Voices), students of the Sacred Hoop Broadcast Program

One student’s experience in the Restoring The Sacred program.

Remains, Human

Cody Halcrow (CBC New Indigenous Voices), Roger Boyer (CBC New Indigenous Voices, NSI Storytellers, NSI IndigiDocs)

Young reporter Jessica Hale and her cameraman are eager to uncover what lies behind the mysterious alleged monster sightings in their town. But when a shadowy character named Victor Merrick grants them the tell-all interview they’ve been waiting for, their big-break news story just might be their last.

C & J Forever

Roger Boyer

Jack returns home to visit his childhood friend Candace.

Ghost Hunters

Amanda Kindzierski (CBC New Indigenous Voices, NSI IndigiDocs)

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Congratulations to the NSI grads with films screening at this year’s Présence autochtone / Montreal First Peoples Festival.

• NSI IndigiDocs film Cree Code Talker from Alexandra Lazarowich and Cowboy Smithx

• Four Faces of the Moon from Amanda Strong and Bracken Hanuse Corlett (both NSI IndigiDocs)

• NSI IndigiDocs film Jane & the Wolf from Nadine Arpin and Rachel Garrick

• Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World from Catherine Bainbridge and Christina Fon (both NSI Global Marketing)

• The Land of Rock and Gold from Janine Windolph (NSI IndigiDocs)

The festival runs from August 2 to 9, 2017.

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Women in Film and Television – Vancouver has announced a new feature film writing development program for Indigenous women called Coyote, Raven, Spider, Wendigo: Tricksters and Writers.

Screenwriter and producer Peggy Thompson (DramaLab) will serve as a faculty member for the program, conducting writing masterclasses for the 10 selected participants alongside filmmaker Doreen Manuel.

The 12-week program offers Indigenous women the opportunity to develop feature length screenplays. Applications are being accepted until August 31, 2017.

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